EverQuest: Ruins of Kunark

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EQ gets one mighty big expansion that, while fantastic for some, will be nearly useless to others.

By IGN Staff

When EverQuest was released last year, thousands of gamers became hopelessly addicted to the fantasy world of Norrath. Over the past twelve months, they have pillaged and exploited this massive virtual world until there was almost nothing more to discover. Of course, since this game is like a drug to many, they refused to stop playing and thus caused serious overcrowding issues on nearly every server.

So, in one attempt (of many) to address these overcrowding issues, Verant recently released an expansion pack for the game entitled The Ruins of Kunark. In addition of drastically increasing the size of the game world (by an estimated 33%), the expansion adds a new playable race of lizardmen called the Iksar. Also, players are now able to reach level 60, where they were limited to level 50 in the core game.

The back-story of the expansion is that the Iksar have kidnapped the daughter of the High Elven king. After that event, the king sent one of his knights to set up an outpost called Firiona Vie on Kunark to locate his daughter. Not to be left out, the "Evil" races (Dark Elves, Trolls, and Ogres) set up their own outpost in The Overthere.

The new playable race, the Iksar, once had an empire that encompassed all of Kunark. After a war against the Serpents and Dragons, their empire fell into ruin. Since they have been isolated for thousands of years, the rest of Norrath hates and distrusts the Iksar, which makes them KOS (killed on sight) in every city of Norrath. Despite that one setback, they are a very cool race. They are able to be Monks, Warriors, Shaman, Necromancers, and Shadowknights in addition to having extremely high initial swimming, regeneration, and infravision.

In order for players to reach Kunark, they must board a boat and travel there (or get a teleport from a kind Wizard or Druid). Those who get a teleport will arrive in The Dreadlands, a level 30+ zone teeming with nasty monsters such as Yetis and Mountain Giants, which really limits who can travel to this new land via magical means.

If you want to reach Kunark by non-magical means, you have to take a trip over the ocean. Evil races board a small raft in the Oasis of Marr, which takes them to a boat in the Timorous Deep. Their boat is a burnt out husk of a former ship attached to a larger raft. After a long trip, they arrive in The Overthere, which is a level 20+ zone featuring new monsters such as Cockatrices, Succulent, Rhinos, Scorpikis and Sabretooth Tigers. Again, this severely limits who can travel to Kunark. Sure, if you're a lower level character then you can run and try to avoid all of the big baddies in The Overthere, but it would have been nice if lower level characters could get to Kunark and explore these new lands a bit more safely than the current setup allows.

Good races use small shuttles from the Butcherblock Mountains to get to an amazingly large High Elven ship, which is waiting for them in the Timorous Deep. This vessel is one of the most impressive things seen in the game in quite a while, as it is large enough to be a small city, and it makes the older vessels in the game look like rowboats. After a minute or two of waiting, giant "wings" unfold and the ship speeds through the zone, after which you arrive in Finiona Vie. The High Elf outpost on Kunark is a small town connected to another level 20+ zone. Finiona Vie is like a sampler platter for the rest of the continent, as most of the unique species can be found here. You can see new monsters such as Drolvargs (very nast Gnolls), Leeches, Drachnids, Drixies, Forest Giants, and the returning Froglocks and Goblins (although Kunark Goblins have a cool new look).

Since players can now exceed the previous level 50 limit, most of the new zones reflect that, and it is one of the things that hurts this expansion. As I mentioned before, while there are areas for characters of every level to hunt, its not very fun to have to run through an extremely hostile high level zone just to get there. People who start an Iksar won't have this problem, as they start out near the lower level zones, but anyone else who is under level 20 will want to avoid Kunark until they are strong enough to survive the journey there.

One of the biggest changes in Kunark is the improved graphics, and zone design. Where the original EverQuest had some rather large zones, they were still quite blocky and didn't look very realistic. In Kunark, each zone looks a lot more natural. The terrain is smoother, texture detail is greater, and the areas are much more complex. For example, trails are now actually part of the terrain, instead of just being a flat texture on the ground. Also, trees now sway in the wind, which is something they did not do in the core game. Unfortunately no new music has been added to the game, and it still sounds the same as it always did.

All this new detail comes at a price though, as the system requirements have been upped a good deal over the original release. Players who just barely met the minimum requirements of EverQuest will barely be able to run the expansion, and even they are able to the framerates will be very low. Thankfully, Verant implemented a user controlled clipping plane option a few months ago, which can be adjusted at will to improve framerates when they happen to drop to unwanted levels.

The gameplay has remained almost exactly the same as in the original game. There are still static, non-random spawns, and special items are still dropped by specific monsters. If you never liked EverQuest, there is nothing here that will really change your mind.

The only big change comes to those who exceed level 50. Melee classes get Disciplines, which are specific abilities that are normally used during combat to increase the character's effectiveness in battle. Casters get new spells, usually a couple per level after 50. Also, classes after 50 get new titles. For example, a Cleric may become known as a Vicar or an Enchanter as an Illusionist.

As an expansion, The Ruins of Kunark gave EverQuest exactly what it needed to keep players addicted for months to come. They get new lands to explore items to find, and even more incentive to reach that magical level of 50. There are many new monsters and critters to kill, as well as incredible discoveries to be made in the ruins

Even with all that, it's not for everyone. Those who are still new to the game will probably want to wait until they build up their character a little more before venturing to the land of Kunark. But once you do, you will be hopeless addicted just like in those early days of Norrath.